Boehner Goes Back on Offense Over Health Care

U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) speaks during a news conference at the Republican National Committee offices on Capitol Hill in Washington October 23, 2013.

WASHINGTON – House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio), seeking to move past a failed political strategy that shuttered large parts of the government and sank the party’s approval ratings, on Wednesday went back on offense, targeting budget deficits and the new health-care law as problems Republicans could address.

“We went through a very tough period,” Mr. Boehner said told reporters in the first workweek back since Congress reopened the government. “As I told my colleagues the other day, we fought the fight; we didn’t win; we live to fight another day.”

Republicans tried and failed to defund or delay U.S. President Barack Obama’s health law through bills to fund the government and raise the U.S. borrowing limit. Democrats objected, resulting in a standoff that closed the government for 16 days. Now, the health law remains intact, but widespread, public failures of the law’s new online health insurance marketplace are giving Republicans new reasons to criticize the health law.

Mr. Boehner stopped short of outlining a new legislative strategy to undercut the law, suggesting that the House would focus on congressional investigations instead.

“The biggest part of Congress’s job is to provide proper oversight of the executive branch of government,” Mr. Boehner said. “When it comes to Obamacare, clearly there’s an awful lot that needs to be held accountable.”

The remarks come one day before the House Energy and Commerce Committee panel holds a hearing focused on failures of the online marketplaces and Mr. Obama’s plans to try to address the Web site’s problems with a surge of technology workers. More hearings are planned for next week, including one with Health and Human Services Department Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.

Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R., Wash.) said that Republicans would set up an online site at www.gop.gov/yourstory for people to describe their experiences trying to buy health insurance through the federal Web site.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.) said that Republicans still want to delay the penalties for people who don’t sign up for health insurance next year. “We Republicans remain committed to delaying that mandate tax of Obamacare,” Mr. Cantor told reporters.

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